Shipping causes more CO2 than Britain

CO₂ emissions from international shipping now total 870 million tonnes, which equates to more than Britain’s entire current carbon emissions.

A meeting in London next week will allow the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) an opportunity to reduce emissions from international shipping, before the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.

If no action is taken, NGOs will press for Copenhagen to set emission reduction targets for international shipping of 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

“The need to address shipping emissions is too urgent to be left in the hands of the IMO, who have consistently stalled when they need to take real action,” said Bill Hemmings of Transport and Environment.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said “There have been moves by individual countries to limit pollution from shipping, but such piecemeal initiatives are not enough.”

A return to sail

In the face of environmental concerns about food miles, a French shipping company has chartered five sailing vessels to ply their trade around Europe.

The Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voile ( CTMV ) is a newly-established French company specialising in merchant sailing that has used a 100-year-old British schooner to transport a full cargo of wine from France to Dublin – the first time in living memory such a trip has taken place.

The company is looking to use its regular return journey from the Irish sea to bring Irish Whisky and scotch back to France.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “This most environmentally benign mode of transport is enabling food producers to label their products as having been moved in a green way, but the high price of oil may bring an added financial incentive.”

The term “Food miles” refers to the distance food is transported from its production to the consumer and seeks to illustrate the hidden environmental consequences of food production.

21^st century sailing

Although century-old sailing vessels can continue to ship cargo, a company called SkySails is developing a range of gaint kites for use by modern conventionally-powered freighters (see photo above). SkySails kites, which can be as large as 320m² are claimed to reduce a ship‘s fuel costs by 10- 35% on annual average, depending on wind conditions.

Greener travel

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